Austin Dillon picked up the win at Richmond on a night where tires were the story. Richard Boswell called a great race, and Dillon executed. The racing at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400 was perhaps the best NASCAR race at the track in years.
Goodyear brought a new tire combination with soft right-side tires. It created some of the best short track racing we’ve seen in the Next Gen era.
With his first win of the year, Austin Dillon made a statement. He’s not just a one-hit wonder at Richmond. He’s also shaken up the NASCAR Playoffs once again. Was his win, and the race itself, a win for the sport?
Jeff Gluck of The Athletic believes Saturday night was major for NASCAR. He pointed to the sold-out crowd, the action on the track, and maybe the solution to the Next Gen car.
“This was a really big night for NASCAR, I think,” Gluck said after Austin Dillon’s win, on The Teardown. “As we talked about last week, it was just getting to a tipping point where everybody’s turning on the car, and it just feels like this building sense of rage and dissatisfaction – and I’m not saying that certainly one race is going to make that go away, but it certainly for this week going to take the focus off that and have people talk about other stuff. As you talked about with the side-by-side battle, great stuff. Like, a great short track race. And then, with the tires.
“Again, Goodyear brings this softer option tire and you’re go, ugh, you see there’s a glimmer of hope here, right? Everybody’s been putting this on the car, you know, ‘The car sucks, the car sucks.’ It’s like, okay, Goodyear, you’ve gotta fix it for us, right? And Goodyear has shown they’re getting closer to really figuring this thing out here. At least on a track with high wear. That’s the difference. Not all tracks are able to wear the tires like Richmond is with the old asphalt.”
So, is this a big deal? Or does NASCAR still have problems after Richmond? Austin Dillon’s win was revealing in more than one way. While it has quelled complaints about the short track package and the car, it may have restarted complaints about win-and-in and the playoffs.
